Wednesday, February 02, 2011

MLS: Offense & Defense Ranks by Year

Here's a nice way to see the yearly rankings all in one place (now updated through 2010). I think this provides an interesting look at team performance historically by looking at each category separately.

Red = top half for that year, while blue = bottom half. In 2007 & 2009, teams without a color mean they were ranked exactly in the middle.

Bold = ties. There are more teams in the top halves than in the bottom halves overall because of ties. For example, in 1997 four teams are tied for third on offense. So for that year, six teams are counted in the top half with only four in the bottom half. I've chosen to do that rather than to count them as being in both halves.